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U.S. Pursues Measures to Strengthen Security and Stability in Space

Deputy Assistant Secretary Frank A. Rose of Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance today highlighted that the United States is pursuing measures to strengthen security and stability in space.

At the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)conference, Mr. Rose discussed how to strengthen security and stability through shared space situational awareness, called "SSA" for short, and through transparency and confidence building measures, or TCBMs.

Why is SSA important to space security?

According to Mr. Rose that s long-standing principle of U.S. national space policy is that all nations have the right to explore and use space for peaceful purposes, and for the benefit of all humanity, in accordance with international law.

"Strengthening stability in space fundamentally depends on having awareness and understanding as to who is using the space environment, for what purposes, and under what environmental conditions."-Mr. Rose

The U.S. National Space Policy collaborates with other nations, the private sector, and intergovernmental organizations to improve SSA.
Cooperation to Prevent Collisions

Mr. Rose stated that having information enables the United States to achieve SSA. However, "awareness" alone is insufficient. It also need to know what to actually do with that vital information.

The United States provides notifications to other governments and commercial satellite operators of potentially hazardous conjunctions between orbiting objects.

The United States is constantly seeking to improve its ability to share information with other spacefaring nations as well as with our commercial sector partners. For example, at State we are currently reaching out to all spacefaring nations to ensure that the Joint Space Operations Center, or JSpOC, has current contact information for both government and private sector satellite operations centers. Those efforts include ongoing discussions with Russia on measures to enhance safety for robotic space missions as well as for human spaceflight.

SSA Cooperation

The United States is supporting numerous multilateral and bilateral engagements in SSA. It is collaborating with the Department of Defense to engage in technical exchanges with experts from the European Space Agency, the European Union, and individual ESA and EU Member States to ensure our existing and planned SSA systems contribute to a more comprehensive situational awareness picture to ensure the safety, stability, and security of the space domain.

Mr. Rose concluded that SSA is essential to strengthen security and stability in space and sustainability of our space activities. To this end, the United States is striving to improve its ability to monitor, track, and provide notifications regarding space objects.
Source: U.S. Department of State